Day 13: Another shade of hope, through the eyes of an artist

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2013 at 11:10 AM

Remember Pat Costigan and her paintings of hope? We’re sharing another one today titled Spiritual Resistance. Here’s the bulk of the artist’s statement… The inspiration for this painting was how the Jews practiced Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos during World War II. The prisoners in the ghettos at that time drew upon their: gifts, talents, [...]

simplyfaithful

Remember Pat Costigan and her paintings of hope? We’re sharing another one today titled Spiritual Resistance.

Here’s the bulk of the artist’s statement…

The inspiration for this painting was how the Jews practiced Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos during World War II. The prisoners in the ghettos at that time drew upon their:

gifts,

talents,

life giving abilities

to survive, not to succumb to hopelessness and fear and transform their dismal, dark lives, if for only a moment into something that lifted their souls out of this world into another dimension.

Their lives were filled with:

starvation,

pestilence,

extremes of cold,

lack of warm clothing,

want of decent living conditions,

the everyday threat of death for themselves and their loved ones by

violence,

hatred

and cruelty.

They performed music, theatre, created art, gave lectures about science, literature, art, music and performed many, many unselfish acts of kindness.

How do we combat the hatred that destroys and tears down?

When we do acts of good where we are, it affirms our humanity.

When we experience forces from outside trying to get to our inside, the darkness in…

We can transform the darkness of pain into Light, Joy and Hope.

We can embrace the world.

We can embrace the dark, diseased world.

We can throw our loving arms around this world in order to change it.

We can speak words of encouragement

We can try to understand our enemies

We can practice courage to speak out for silent victims of injustice

We can join in the dance of Light

We can join in the music of Peace

We can join in living in Hope

Pat Costigan and her husband, Bob, have four daughters, Clare, Beth, Anne and Irene. Before children, she earned a BA in Art and an MA in Special Education, taught and always made art. Through the years she has been involved with local and international social justice issues. Pat recently completed a series of paintings on “Hope” and is working on a new series titled “Grace.” Pat co-authored, designed and created the artwork and illustrations for the newly published book, “Mothering: An Art Of The Heart” (www.motheringanartoftheheart.com). When she is not busy in her studio, she is often found walking their rescue dog, Bella, around the neighborhood in Fairport, NY.

Today’s journal page is from another artist (and friend), Rachel Whaley Doll. She is also an author and musician — mostly because she wondered what she could do with her gifts and decided to try. Her newest book, “The Exquisite Ordinary,” is available on Amazon. Vocal recordings, murals, contact information and other writings can be found at threadsofcreativity.com. And she has been gracious enough to write about having a peaceful dwelling and share it at Simply Faithful.

Here are Rachel’s suggestions for the journal page:

Gather your journal paper and crayons, and set a timer for five minutes (so you won’t keep wondering how long it’s been!). For five minutes, find a comfortable position and close your eyes. Focus on calm breathing, and on the colors that present themselves as you breath gently with your eyes closed. When the five minutes are up, and you are ready, let the colors and shapes that presented themselves in your meditation guide your hand on the page. Don’t try to create anything, just enjoy the color and movement. As you look at the page, write something on it that you dream of accomplishing, and hang it somewhere you will see it often. Happy dreaming!